Blog

Another Day In Pandemic Paradise-Episode 3: #NorthbrookStrong

That’s Sandy Frum, Northbrook Village President since 2009. Sandy is one of the faces of Northbrook, and I see her everywhere in town: chamber of commerce events, riding atop the fire truck during the 4th of July parade, mingling at the farmer’s market and Northbrook days, out and about, and of course at village board meetings.

Like any good leader, Sandy is present and accessible--I got to know her more when we met for coffee at Starbucks last year. Remember those days?

I was never invested in local government because I only paid attention to major state and national headlines. But after fall of 2016, I understood that the most important policies are created where you live and that I had agency to affect change.

Since then I’ve attended and even spoken at some of the meetings covering controversial topics like minimum wage, gun laws, and recreational marijuana. Sometimes things got heated. Picture the town hall meetings from Footloose or Hoosiers, but rather than arguing for or against dancing or Coach Norman Dale, people spoke in favor of and in opposition to raising the minimum wage, enacting the Cook County Assault Weapons ban locally, and opting in or out of adult use dispensaries.

Occasionally these meetings go past midnight, and when members of the audience have gotten ornery, Sandy’s admonished them while maintaining control. Today’s Northbrook Village board comprises a majority of women for the first time in history.